By Bri Ng Schwartz
Photos // Max Rowley
The year is 2019, I just moved back to the East Coast after finishing school in Chicago. I am introduced to the Queer Brookly scene and “Talia” and “1950” by King Princess are playing everywhere. She’s on all of my friends’ playlists. Flash forward to 2020’s lockdown, and I am teaching myself the dance to her anthem-for-bottoms “Hit The Back”. King Princess feels synonymous with my understanding of my own queerness.
GIRL VIOLENCE marks the start of a new era for Mikaela Straus, with rock and roll at the center. A big-boobed Cherry is the mascot of the album and a new character in the King Princess universe. A nemesis, to be exact. I’ve gotten used to the back and forth beef between the two on Instagram stories, and I live for it. Singles like RIP KP & Jamie have accompanying visuals, the classic King Princess treatment that is equal parts silly and sexy. Once again, she’s in my daily Spotify rotation, with songs like “I Feel Pretty”, “Covers” and “Girls” on repeat.
I heard some of these songs for the first time at her Market Hotel show back in June, which was a celebratory introduction to her new rock era. I was brought back to my days at New Jersey and Chicago basement rock shows, sweating and banging my head to guitar solos and wailing. Those shows from my younger days were so male-centric, and this environment reclaims that experience.
A contrast to her Market Hotel show, her tour stop at Brooklyn Paramount reminded us that she is true Brooklyn royalty. The set was a perfectly balanced King Princess medley, with beloved pop tracks, sultry ballads and rock anthems dispersed evenly throughout the set. Once again, Cherry is the star of the show, taking up 75% of the backdrop. The evening closed with “Brooklyn” being sprayed right across Cherry’s chest and King Princess serenading us with “Ohio”. Those guitar solos reminded me that despite commercial success with her pop hits, King Princess always was and always will be a rock star.
Stream GIRL VIOLENCE on Spotify or Apple Music.
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